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California wide receiver Keenan Allen heard he could go as high as the first round.

But when the first round came, he didn’t receive a phone call. Then the second round, still no phone call. Allen didn’t know what was happening.

“I was kind of unsure of it, didn’t know what was really going on,” Allen said. “(I) talked to my agent. He said everything was going to be fine; he was going to work everything out, so we weren’t too worried about it.”

Finally, a call came in the third round; it was the San Diego Chargers on the other end, who had just selected Allen with the No. 76 pick overall.

“Just excitement across the room,” Allen said. “I’m definitely happy to have a home, have a place to call home, and San Diego is definitely in California, so being able to stay in California is great for me.”

Allen is one of the best receiver prospects in the class with his physicality and size, standing at 6-foot-2 and weighing 211 pounds.

He finished as Cal’s all-time leader in receptions with 205, third in school history with 2,570 receiving yards and seventh with 17 touchdowns in his three-year career. He finished the 2012 season with 61 receptions, 737 yards and six touchdowns after a great 2011 season in which he hauled in 98 receptions for 1,343 yards and six touchdowns.

“If you like him, he’s Anquan Boldin,” NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock said. “If you don’t like him, he’s speed-deficient. So, I don’t really care what he runs in the 40. On tape to me, he’s a 4.55 guy all day long.”

Allen’s stock fell when he sprained his posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee on Oct. 27 against Utah, forcing him to miss Cal’s final three games and unable to work out for scouts at the combine.

The injury was the cherry on top of a conflicting year.

“It was pretty tough,” Allen said. “(I) had some ups and downs, inconsistent. I had to work with a couple young guys, so taking the leader role was different for me, but definitely took the role under my wing and did a great job with it.”

With his rehab on schedule, Allen believes he will be ready when training camp arrives.

“It’s doing really well; it’s about 90 percent right now,” he said. “About a week and a half, two weeks away from being 100 percent. Depending on my schedule and stuff, I’ll probably go back to Florida and finish my rehab.”